Shorebird Nesting Success

Staff at the Elizabeth A. Morton National Wildlife Refuge in Noyac and the Amagansett National Wildlife Refuge have thanked visitors for respecting the beach closures that helped increase nesting shorebirds’ protection from disturbances during this year’s nesting season, which officials called a success.

During the 2016 nesting season, the Morton refuge provided habitat for three pairs of piping plovers listed as threatened by the federal government and approximately 28 pairs of least terns. One pair of plovers and 22 pairs of least terns nested at the Amagansett refuge this season. The Jessup’s Neck peninsula at the Morton refuge and the beach at the Amagansett refuge, which is south of Bluff Road and to the west of Atlantic Avenue, have been reopened to public access.

The two refuges are part of the larger National Wildlife Refuge system, which includes 565 sites throughout the United States. The Long Island National Wildlife Refuge complex encompasses 6,500 acres and consists of seven such refuges, two refuge subunits, and one wildlife management area. The refuge complex was established to conserve habitat for migratory birds, protect threatened and endangered species, enhance and restore habitat for native flora and fauna, and provide wildlife-dependent public uses where appropriate and compatible.